According to reports, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) said it will not endorse any one of the five bids currently being considered by FIFA for the first ever World Cup on African soil.
Said a spokesman for CAF: “We will leave it to the individual nations bidding to convince FIFA why they are better than the others. We will not intervene.
“The most important thing for all of us at CAF is that the World Cup will take place in Africa.”
South Africa, Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia and Libya have all presented bid documents to FIFA.
CAF president Issa Hayatou, the man who made headlines around the world when he challenged Blatter for the FIFA throne in the last presidential elections, has received a massive boost in his bid to win a further term at the helm of CAF.
Hayatou, who faces an election in January, is being backed by 36 African football associations who have committed themselves to ensuring he stays in power.
He will face a challenge from FIFA executive committee member Ismael Bhamjee from Botswana.
Meanwhile, FIFA has confirmed details of its extraordinary congress to be staged in Doha between October 19-20.
The key topics will be the ratification of the revised FIFA statutes and other items on the agenda, such as FIFA's finances.
The FIFA Statutes Revision Committee, chaired by Marcel Mathier has drafted a new version of the FIFA constitution within one year.
The new statutes – a key part in Blatter’s strategy following his last election victory – are, says FIFA ‘intended to reflect the changing conditions that have emerged especially over the past ten years’.
If the new statutes are ratified as planned at the Congress in Qatar, they will come into force as from January 1 2004 to coincide with the launch of celebrations for FIFA's centenary.
Time will also be devoted to the report on FIFA's finances. The auditors' report for the 1999-2002 period will be presented to the delegates, as will the consolidated closing accounts for this period.
In addition to the detailed financial information, the report of more than 80 pages also contains explanations on the Internal Audit Committee, whose chairman, Dr Franco Carraro, will also be giving an account of its activities so far.
